WHAT WE DO
Each year New Paltz Rotary contributes 15,000 pounds of food to the Backpack program, $15,000 to needy NP families during the holidays, $10,000 in scholarships to NP students, thousands of dollars worth of food to Family of New Paltz, $3,000 to Friends of Guirgho, and over $2,000 to the Rotary Foundation.
Programs
Alzheimer's Walk
Welcome to our team page for the Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer's®! Walk is the largest event to raise funds and awareness for the care, support and research efforts of the Alzheimer’s Association®. It’s held annually in more than 600 communities nationwide, and our team is excited to participate this year.
Currently, more than 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's and over 11 million family and friends provide their unpaid care. We need your help to end this devastating disease. You can make an impact with a donation or even joining our team. Your kindness and generosity truly make a difference in the fight against Alzheimer’s and all other dementia. Thank you for your support!
Backpack Program
Provides weekend food for nutritionally at-risk local school children
Our school district provides free and reduced price lunch to disadvantaged students throughout the school. However, many children do not have access to regular meals over the weekend.
End Polio Now
Rotary is an international community that brings together leaders who step up to take on the world’s toughest challenges, locally and globally. The eradication of polio is one of our longest standing and most significant efforts. Along with our partners, we have helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children against polio in 122 countries. We have reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent worldwide and we won't stop until we end the disease for good.
Click here to learn more about the Rotary's fight to End Polio Now.
Friends of Guirgho
Actively support the “Friends of Guirgho” project which provided upgraded classroom facilities and materials to the children of rural villages in Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso is a small country in western Africa with one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. It is also a place where people are warm and welcoming, where young people routinely greet their elders with gestures of respect, where Muslims and Christians and indigenous religious and ethnic groups live side-by-side and intermarry—a place teeming with life and possibility.
Holiday Funds
Every year around the holiday season, the New Paltz Rotary Club coordinates with the Social Workers from the schools in the New Paltz Central School District - (Duzine, Lenape, the Middle School, and the High School) - to offer gift cards to Target and the local grocery store, ShopRite for families who are financially vulnerable so that they may buy extra food or toys for their children. The Social Workers work together to determine the families in need, get the total amount needed to the Fishes & Loaves Committee, receive the gift cards and distribute them to the families. NP Rotary Club raises the monies in various fundraisers throughout the year and provides the gift cards to the school Social Workers, maintaining the confidentiality of the families. In 2019, we budgeted $9,000 for this project. In 2020, in the midst of the COVID pandemic, the vulnerable families nearly doubled and we provided $15,000 worth of gift cards. In 2021, we budgeted $15,000 for the project and all that money was needed and distributed. We have budgeted the same amount for this coming holiday season.
Interact
The Interact Club of New Paltz High School helps to develop leadership skills in our students while fostering the core value of Service Beyond Self. Club members provide acts of service to the school, and local community, as well as participating in global initiatives. In addition to volunteering their time to community events, or fundraising to support local and global causes, the students of New Paltz Interact Club also participate in the Global High School Summit, which brings together educators from 72 countries to address a common concern. The New Paltz Interact Club is open to all High School students in grades 9-12. They meet weekly under the guidance of Spanish Teacher, Rod Castro.
President's Challenge Scholarship
Thanks to the generosity of sponsors from our local community and beyond, the President's Challenge Scholarship assists first-generation Ulster County high school students with overcoming financial barriers associated with attending college. Students are identified in eighth grade by their sponsoring school district and receive mentoring and college readiness support through the completion of high school. Upon graduation, students are able to attend SUNY Ulster tuition-free for two years.
For more information, click here.
Rotary Park
Rotary Park is located at the intersection of Main Street and the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail in the Village of New Paltz. Built in 2005, our club proudly maintains the park’s garden space as a beautification effort for the community. In 2025 we enhanced the garden with the addition of a Peace Pole echoing a theme of Rotary International. The garden evolves with the seasons and is thoughtfully planted and cared for by our members throughout the year. Rotary Park also serves as a gathering place for small community events, including celebrations such as International Peace Day.
Scholarship Program
New Paltz Rotary Club Scholarships are open to all graduating High School Seniors who reside within the New Paltz Central School District and who will be perusing a postsecondary degree or training at any two or four year college, trade school or educational institution.
ShelterBox
ShelterBox began in 2000 as a Rotary Club’s millennium project in Cornwall, UK. With the support of Rotary members and clubs around the world, ShelterBox grew to become an internationally recognised, independent disaster relief organization. Since 2012, ShelterBox and Rotary have been official Project Partners in disaster relief.
Supporting Family of New Paltz
The Rotary Club proudly supports Family of New Paltz through continuous financial contributions and ongoing food donations throughout the year.
Family of New Paltz provides critical support services to individuals and families throughout southeastern Ulster County during times of crisis and transition. Their work includes crisis intervention, emergency counseling, case management, housing support, childcare assistance, and robust food access programs. Through collaboration with local organizations and businesses, Family of New Paltz helps meet immediate needs while strengthening long-term stability for the community. To learn more, click here.
Touch-A-Truck
The New Paltz Rotary Touch a Truck is a unique, interactive, one-day event which allows children to see, touch, explore their favorite big trucks and service vehicles. In addition, they meet and interact with the personnel who protect, serve and build our community. Vehicles on display include construction trucks and equipment, emergency responders, tractor trailers, utility vehicles, a school bus and more.
This event features free fun family activities including bounce house and face painting.
All proceeds go to the New Paltz Rotary community and international giving. This event was started in 2012 and was held annually through 2019. We brought this great family event back In 2023 and it is planned for the first Sunday in June at the Ulster County Fairgrounds Libertyville Rd. New Paltz, NY every year.
Touch A Truck, where kids can be kids and adults can be kids again!
Youth Exchange Program (YEX)
Sponsorship of an inbound and an outbound international exchange student each year
The Youth Exchange Program (YEX) is an exchange program for secondary school students between the ages of 15 and 17, who travel abroad to learn about other cultures and languages. We have students coming from other countries (Inbound Students) as well as students leaving for other countries (Outbound Students).
Other
Halloween Parade
Tree Lighting and Photos with Santa
Family of New Paltz Support